Startup Event in Finland Puts Spotlight on European Tech 30 November 2017, by Jari Tanner

Startup event in Finland puts spotlight on European tech 30 November 2017, by Jari Tanner

maker of Clash of Titans among others—and the Angry Birds developer Rovio.

The home-grown startups in Finland are now expanding from conventional information technology to new lucrative fields like education, health, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

Yet as successful as some of these companies can be, they more often than not get bought up by bigger U.S. or Asian companies, leaving Europe without a single software-based technology company to rival the likes of Google or Amazon. Supercell, for example, sold a majority of its shares to Japanese companies GungHo and Softbank in General view of Slush 2017 event in Helsinki, Finland, 2013 and then China's Tencent in 2016. Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Al Gore has kicked off the two- day Slush conference, one of Europe's largest startup events in Finland, where 2,600 companies and some 1,500 investors are gathering to network and negotiate funding. (Vesa Moilanen/ Lehtikuva via AP)

One of Europe's largest startup events opened Thursday in Finland, with 2,600 companies and 1,500 investors networking and negotiating funding, as the region looks to ramp up an industry that has long struggled to compete with the tech giants of the U.S.

The two-day Slush conference in Helsinki brought in star power to promote itself, including former Former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore U.S. Vice President Al Gore to kick off the event speaks during a Slush 2017 startup and technology event and Britain's Prince William. in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP) The location of Finland is symbolic for a national and regional technology industry that has been trying to renew itself from older tech—the once- dominant handsets of Nokia—into newer ventures. Venture capital firm Index Partners, one of Europe's largest technology investors based in London and Finland has managed over the past five years to San Francisco, is convinced Europe will get own build a flourishing entrepreneurial scene, evident in star companies in the not-so-distant future. the rise of gaming heavyweights Supercell—the

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"It's just a matter of time and people seeing the companies can solve the world's biggest problems" exhibit, seeing Supercell reach $10 billion through technology. valuation. There will be more companies like that," said spokesman Vojtech Horna from Index's "Slush has put Helsinki on the map," said director London office. Reidar Wasenius of the Finnish Business Angels Network whose members invested some 53 million "The more people see examples like that, the more euros in over 300 startups in 2016. "It has brought you see people taking it for the long-term and not only visibility but also credibility with direct building these businesses in Europe." benefits to investors and Finnish startups."

He mentioned online fashion platform Farfetch, Slush estimates total funds channeled to Finnish lending marketplace Funding Circle and music startups have more than tripled from 2011 to some streaming service Spotify as examples of European 383 million euros last year. startups that have grown to become leaders in their respective fields. Apart from Gore and Prince William, other European royalty—Prince Daniel of Sweden and From its beginning in 2008 as a student-driven Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands—are expected event with 300 visitors, Slush has grown to become to visit. a major international showcase for startups, with about 20,000 visitors expected this year. © 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore speaks during a Slush 2017 startup and technology event in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. (Vesa Moilanen/Lehtikuva via AP)

In addition, dozens of side events take place around Helsinki for investors, media and entrepreneurs, and organizers have expanded Slush to Asia with similar events staged in Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.

This year's overall theme is "how growth

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APA citation: Startup event in Finland puts spotlight on European tech (2017, November 30) retrieved 1 October 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2017-11-al-gore-startup-networking-event.html

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